


Shadows

by Gatejunkie



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24594841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gatejunkie/pseuds/Gatejunkie
Summary: SG-1 must escape beings that feed on spirits.
Relationships: Daniel Jackson & Jack O'Neill
Kudos: 16





	Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Also appeared in zine New Worlds & False Gods #1

An unexpected shiver slithered down Jack O'Neill's spine as he stepped from the wormhole into the incandescent silver of moonlight. Familiarity, that maddening sense of vague recognition teased his mind as a nightbird wept its lonely song. The flutelike sound echoed an ancient time when visions breathed. He knew he hadn't been here before and yet… His gaze darted left, then right.

Silhouettes of scaly trees girdled the gate, the heavy menthol odor of eucalyptus weighting the air. Shimmering leaves flashed brackish in the mercurial light before the slight breeze went dead still. A triangle of full moons illuminated the open space beside the Stargate, making the team obvious targets. Perfect place for a rendezvous---or an ambush.

"All right, kids," Jack said quietly, pulling on his night-vision goggles to scan the murky treeline for signs of covert movement, "time to become creatures of darkness."

Sensing the abnormal unease in his friend, Daniel shuddered in mock seriousness to give the moment a lighter note. "I don't think I'd make a good vampire," he objected, "I don't even like my steaks rare."

Teal'c's eyebrow rose. "What is a vampire?"

"Senator Kinsey," O'Neill quipped, grabbing Daniel's verbal lifeline to distract himself from growing dread as he moved forward. Carter flanked him.

"A bloodsucking monster," Daniel explained at the same time, following them.

"Exactly," Jack smirked, "Isn't that what I just said?"

Daniel thought a moment as he adjusted his goggles. "Sorta," he qualified with an easy grin.

"This is weird." Shaking her head, Sam frowned at the M.A.L.P.

"Oh, I don't know. All this talk reminds me of Granny O'Neill's Halloween stories."

She shot her superior an indulgent glance. "I mean the probe, sir. Someone's cannibalized it for parts."

"Looked like a better neighborhood from the preliminary scans." Jack bent over the machine. "Oh, for cryin' out loud…" he groaned.

"Sir?" Sam tried to see what had upset him.

Jack turned to look up at her, the goggles transforming his face into a bug-eyed caricature. "They took the CD player. Now the General won't let me use the M.A.L.P. this weekend."

Rolling her eyes, Sam pointed to the contraption. "I can't figure out why they stole the pieces they did."

"Maybe they were in demand at chop shops." Jack fought hard to keep a straight face. He loved razzing her, and if she heard the underlying strain in his tone, she ignored it. For a brief moment, panic flared in him.  _ "For God's sake, Jack. Get ahold of yourself," _ his mind scolded.

"O'Neill." The quiet urgency in Teal'c's deep voice focused their attention on him, "There is something moving behind you in the trees."

Jack nodded. He glanced about, almost casually, to see what the Jaffa had seen. It wouldn't do for the new arrivals to guess they'd been spotted.

"Ow," Daniel said, reaching up to clutch at his neck.

"Daniel?" Sam worried.

"I-I feel strange…" he began. He took a step forward, and swayed, looking confused. "Ja-ack?" he managed before collapsing

"Daniel!" Sam rushed to catch the linguist but failed as he fell against the hard packed soil.

"Dammit!" Jack swore, moving for them.

Pffffffffft.

Teal'c gasped as an arrow pinned his right arm against his side.

"Fall back!" Jack yelled, grabbing Daniel to haul his unconscious friend to safety.

Carter stretched her hand out for the downed man's other arm, but something bit into the skin behind her right ear, stinging like a wasp. "Arghh," she hissed. Air clogged her lungs, the nightmarish Eucalyptus smell making her head swim. "Colonel?" she faltered, stumbling to her knees.

"Carter!" Jack growled as she fell. The DHD was only a few feet away, but it might as well have been miles. As Teal'c moved to help Sam, a knife slammed into Jack's shoulder. Blinding pain rocketed through him on spiraling fireworks of agony. Breakers of nausea hit as his goggled vision spun. Green-hued blackness pinwheeled. _ "Drugged…" _ his mind analyzed seconds before his knees liquefied. He didn't even feel the ground as it smacked him.

Surrounded by his fallen comrades, Teal'c held his charged staff weapon in his good hand, ready to defend them with his life. The agony of his arrowed side was ignored as he tried to glimpse their elusive enemy. Three tiny darts struck him as he as he stood over O'Neill. Despite his resolve, the Jaffa was no match for the narcotics which attacked his system. Swaying, he crumpled beside Sam, his hand still clutching the weapon in unconsciousness. The shaft pinning his other arm to his side pointed like an accusing finger at the moonbright sky.

Shadows glided from the trees, approaching the helpless humans. Exclamations of evil delight frightened the melancholy nightingale. Flapping away in terror, its haunting cry floated back over the treetops. Pulsing with inky iridescence which seemed to absorb the moon's radiance, the phantom forms circled the downed team. Long fingered hands reached out, sifting through soft brown hair, probing a bloodied shoulder, running along one high cheekbone beneath blond strands. Raspy whispers increased as the creatures reveled in their catch. The spectral hands advanced again, clutching the prize of vulnerable flesh and bones.  _ "Together," _ they hissed  _ , "together…before the sun rises." _ As SG-1 was gathered up and borne away, the abandoned clearing looked as innocuous as a spider's web.

***

A spasming muscle in Daniel's neck burned and throbbed. He groaned deep in his throat. Rising towards awareness, the flat, stale taste on his tongue wrinkled his forehead in puzzlement. With slow, easy movements, he straightened his bent neck to ease the pressure. A strangled cry fell from his lips as his wrists,  _ shit, his wrists _ , shrieked with the awareness of the rough metal shackles around them supporting the dead weight of his body. His arms were suspended above him. Blue eyes snapped open and widened in terror. _ Blind? I'm blind? _ Forcing drunken legs to support him, Daniel couldn't repress another moan as the pulled muscles in his neck, wrists and back pulsed sharply with awakening misery. Chains clanked, echoing slightly, but at least his feet touched the floor.

"Daniel?"

"Jack?" the scientist croaked, his throat rusty with disuse.

"You were expecting Elvis? How you doin'?" His friend's reply sounded muted as if he were behind a thick wall.

"I-I'm fine," Daniel lied, blinking rapidly to try to focus his eyes to see, "How're you?"

"Hanging around," O'Neill's strained voice reassured.

Despite his misery, a tiny smile twitched Daniel's trembling lips. The colonel must be suspended in a similar manner.

"Jack, where are we?"

"P3X-852," O'Neill reminded, "unless this is a bad dream. But if it is, my nightmares are usually in glorious Technicolor."

"You're blind too?" Daniel couldn't help the relief coloring his tone.

"I don't think so. It's just dark. Really, really dark."

Hope sighed through Daniel's lips. Except for pulled muscles and bad breath, they were both okay. "Where's Sam and Teal'c?"

"I don't know," Jack admitted, worry roughening his reply, "but then I wasn't sure where you were either until a minute ago. I…God!"

"Jack?" Daniel tensed, his own misery forgotten.

"S'okay," Jack wheezed, "just forgot my shoulder."

"What's wrong with your shoulder?"

"Oh, nothin'."

"Jack…"

"Forget it. It's just a little knife wound."

"How little?"

"I've had worse," came the growl through obviously gritted teeth.

"Yeah, but were you suspended by your wrists when you had ‘em?"

"Well, no, but that's neither here nor there. I…Carter, are you okay?"

Daniel blinked and labored to hear her answer.

"I'm fine, and so is Daniel."

Trying hard, the anthropologist couldn't make out the sound of her reply. Was Jack hallucinating? He took a deep breath to calm his suddenly pounding heart and winced as the damp earthen stench intensified. Were they in a tomb? Trying to ignore the questions assaulting his mind, Daniel focused on the thin-sounding voice to his right. "Take it easy, Jack. We'll get out of here…" he began, making his tone soothing and reassuring. Sharp fear knotted his stomach as he realized how much he relied on the older man to take care of them all. "  _ What if Jack can't?" _ nagged a tiny voice in his mind.

"Of course we will," O'Neill shot back.

"And we'll find Sam and Teal'c."

"I am here, Daniel Jackson."

The Jaffa's muted voice came from his left. "Teal'c? Are you okay?"

"I am injured," Teal'c admitted honestly, "but the Goa'uld I carry is already healing me."

"Daniel, don't lose it," Jack's tone grew sharper with worry, "Sam's right here, and we'll find Teal'c. You might've hit your head when you fell."

Frown lines wrinkled the scientist's forehead as he pondered his friend's meaning. "Of course," he said, "Sam must be next to you just like Teal'c is near me. I can't hear her; you can't hear him."

"Oh…" Jack said, "Ya think?"

The familiar line and tone brought a smile to Daniel's lips despite their situation. He listened as Jack explained to Sam. "How's Sam?"

"Except for a headache, she said she was fine. How's Teal'c?"

"He's injured but recovering."

"Thank goodness for Junior. Sometimes those larvae are better than Bactine."

"They help boo boos heal fast?" Daniel couldn't help the snort which escaped. It sounded a bit desperate, but it was a laugh nonetheless.

"I do not have a boo boo," Teal'c's solemn voice denied, "I had an arrow in my side."

"Had?" Daniel wondered.

"Had what?" The irritation in Jack's muted voice told its own tale. No Goa'uld healed him.

Daniel bit his lip. His friend might bleed to death before they could get out of here. "Teal'c said the arrow in his side is missing. Right, Teal'c?"

"That is correct."

"Then someone's been making house calls." Jack's guess was tinged with the bitter knowledge they'd been unconscious for a longer time than he'd suspected.

"It could also mean they'll be back." Daniel wasn't sure if the thought comforted or scared him. As if his words were a prophecy, rasping whispers echoed nearby. The anthropologist shivered. The sound reminded him of the scrabbling of rodent's feet against a stone floor. He detested rats.

Dazzling light shot daggers into Daniel's open eyes. He moaned, closing them as a shield against the brilliance. Spots of color juggled on the inside of his eyelids.

"Wake!" demanded an abrasive voice directly in front of him.

Slowly opening his eyes, the scientist tried to see the speaker. His blurred vision sluggishly righted itself.

The creature was slightly taller and had an approximate human shape, but any resemblance ended there. Its face held more skull than pasty skin with two lidless black eyes which contained speculation and no hint of compassion. The thing had skeletal arms and legs, but it was more phantom than substance. Daniel could see the opaque wall behind it even as he stared into the alien's "face".

"I'm Daniel, Daniel Jackson," he said after a long moment when the entity made no move other than to stand there in a rippling sort of way. Awkwardness flushed his face at his inability to reach out his hand in greeting.

"Yessss…" it hissed.

"And you?"

It advanced, the half curl of a ghastly smile twisting the strips of skin which passed for its lips. Without answering, it reached out to place bony fingertips on the captured man's temples.

Daniel screamed as the freezing touch seared his flesh. His mouth opened in agony, warm tears pooling and spilling from tormented blue eyes as he stiffened.

"Daniel!" Jack shouted.

"Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c called.

Rigid with suffering, the anthropologist couldn't answer.  _ "Blood…icing my veins." _ His body violently trembled at the sensation.

"Leave him alone!" The granite in Jack's voice promised dire consequences if he was ignored.

"Yessssss," the alien agreed and stepped back.

Panting raggedly, Daniel tried to focus on his tormenter. His temples stung and throbbed as if he'd been burned, but the creature's touch had been dead cold. He'd never known such a glacial feeling.  _ "Was that what it was like for Jack and Sam in Antarctica while they waited for me to figure out where they were?" _

_"_ Daniel." Jack's worried pitch commanded an answer.

Licking dry lips, Daniel managed, "I'm okay."

"What do you want?" Jack demanded.

Turning his head, Daniel saw the soldier's silhouette through an opaque white wall. It was almost as if O'Neill stood behind a movie screen with the sun directly behind him. Another filmy shape shimmered in front of the colonel. He glanced left and could make out Teal'c's form with a third being in the same position.

"We won't give you information." The firmness of O'Neill's vow promised no retraction.

"Information? Yessssss." The sibilant hiss of the creature filtered through the veil.

"No." Jack shook his head.

"Choose." The entity extended its long arms to either side.

Daniel cautiously looked at the creature in his own cell. It waited patiently for its cohort's direction.

"Choose?" Jack snapped, "Okay, I'll choose. Let us out of these chains." He jangled them for effect although the movement must have cost him dearly. "And we'll forget you attacked us. How's that for choosing?"

"One may spare the others…"

"What?" Anger sharpened O'Neill's question.

"Who will sacrifice?"

"None of us, dammit!"

Daniel noticed how Jack's body stiffened with fury as he understood. His tongue snaking out to wet his lips, Daniel croaked, "Me," at the same time Teal'c echoed the word.

"Stow that, Daniel," Jack growled, "and you too, Carter. If you're gonna do something you poor excuse for a ghost, then do it. But I'm the one who's gonna take it."

"Jack, no," Daniel pleaded, "You're hurt and probably on the verge of shock. I'm okay."

"O'Neill, my symbiote will heal me."

Daniel knew Teal'c relied on him to relay the offer. Although it made sense, the anthropologist couldn't allow another to suffer in his stead. He'd endured the alien's touch once already. Shivering from the memory, he forced his knees to lock, vowing to be as brave as Jack. "I'll be the sacrifice."

"Shut up, Daniel."

"But..."

"Daniel." Jack's growl called for obedience.

"The choice is made." The being in O'Neill's cell advanced on the colonel.

"No," Daniel pleaded, watching as it moved closer and closer to his friend. He thought it would stop. It didn't.

A tormented scream ripped from Jack's lips as the blackness passed into him. His blood congealed as cold flames permeated every fiber of his body. Emptiness swept him into some dim pit where nothing existed but suffering.  _ "Gonna spew." _ Even as his stomach balled in preparation, the thing stepped from him, leaving Jack shaking and washed out, his knifed shoulder a stabbing shriek of misery as his knees buckled. Clanking chains snapped taut. He slowly regained his stance, satisfaction flashing through him.  _ "So you don't wanna barf with me, huh?" _ Clammy sweat dampened his back, and gooseflesh dimpled his arms as it circled him. Would the alien try again?

_"Please, no."_ His mouth thinned to a stoic line. The enemy didn't have to know what he was feeling. _"You think so now. Remember when you broke the last time. When…"_ "No," Jack mumbled. He wasn't going on a mind trip into the past. Especially not _that_ memory. _"Did it read my thoughts? Does it know what I know? Did I give up the transmission codes?"_ Fear knotted his throat. He'd rather go insane than let them have the information.

"Jack?"

"Colonel?"

O'Neill noted the underlying panic in Daniel's voice and the angered concern in Sam's. How long had they been calling him? Only now were his senses returning to normal. "I'm fine," he told them. Glaring at the nearby creature, he snapped, "Have a good time, didja? Why didn't you stay for a longer visit or were you just passing through?"

Its head tilted, the curve to its wasted lips displaying gratification. "You will sssuffice." Bony arms reached out, side to side, encompassing the team. "We are pleasssed."

The hissing of their words grated on O'Neill's nerves. "Glad to oblige. Now, let us go."

For the first time, the flat black eyes of his tormenter glowed with something other than speculation. Unbridled anticipation?

"You are ourssss." The being withdrew with the ominous statement, taking all light with it.

"The hell we are!" Jack shouted, as the darkness swallowed him. Silence cocooned him. All points of reference ended except for the metal biting into his wrists. Jack focused on them, intent on keeping his mind from sliding back to a time long ago when his courage had been shattered like bones under a mallet.

***

Teal'c frowned as the shackles binding his wrists suddenly released. He lowered his hands to his sides and glared at his captor. Now nothing prevented him from taking revenge for the suffering they'd caused his teammate. Advancing on the creature, he growled with frustration as his fingers passed through the entity. Stinging pain from the cold was easily ignored. Only freedom for himself and his companions mattered.

Perceiving no doorway, the Jaffa moved to the wall where he'd seen Daniel Jackson's outline. Pounding his fist against it made the barrier ripple but nothing more.

He rounded on his captor. "You will release me now."

"We will not."

His lips twisting in disgust, Teal'c moved closer to the wraith. "I will find a way to free us."

"Yessss," the alien nodded, "you shall."

Blinking in surprise, the Jaffa waited.

"We will let the others go if you agree to stay."

"You will not."

It laughed. The gravelly chuckle rippled the air. "Correct." A bony hand waved at the wall which separated him from the anthropologist.

Seeing another being approaching Daniel, Teal'c stiffened.

"I'm not afraid of you," the scientist's voice snapped, seconds before the enemy embraced him.

Teal'c flinched at the young human's scream and the way he writhed to escape the touch.

"You wish to stop thisss?"

Glaring at his captor, the Jaffa growled. "I do."

"Then move about this space," it ordered. "As long as you do, we will not harm him."

Doubt darkening his brown eyes, Teal'c hesitated a second. Another heartwrenching outcry from Daniel set his feet in motion. Immediately, the creature in his friend's cell released the scientist.

"You see?"

Nodding, the Jaffa set his mind to pacing the small, square confines of his chamber.

"Interesssting," the thing hissed before it melted through the outer wall and was gone.

Pausing a second with surprise, Teal'c flinched as another cry ripped from Daniel. He quickly began walking again to stop it.

Ragged breaths shook Daniel as his torturer moved back. What was happening? "Jack?" he called, glancing to his right. The wall which hid O'Neill remained black. No sound came through it. "Teal'c?" he questioned, looking towards the one shape he could see, "What are you doing?"

"I am walking."

Licking dry lips, Daniel wondered if he could've heard right. "Okay… Why?"

"You will be safe as long as I do."

Nervously eyeing the specter who'd hugged him, the human shook his head. "You can't keep this up forever. Don't play their game, Teal'c."

"I must."

"You'll only tire yourself. What good will that do Jack and Sam?"

"I do not know. However, I will continue to walk, Daniel Jackson. Your suffering cannot help O'Neill and Captain Carter."

Already weary of standing to relieve pressure on his wrists, the scientist shifted his weight to his left foot with an agonized sigh. He winced as the burns on his body balked at the movement. Swallowing hard, he nervously glanced at the creature nearby. Would it keep its distance as long as Teal'c kept moving? Shame burned the tips of Daniel's ears at the thought. How could he allow the Jaffa to deplete his strength?

The wall separating him from the warrior flickered and darkened slightly.

"Teal'c?" Daniel's question bounced in the soundproofed space. When no reply came, he tried again, "Teal'c? Jack?"

"They cannot hear you."

Glaring at the alien specter, Daniel snapped, "Then he can stop moving." A sideways glance assured him his friend was still pacing.

"If he does, you will suffer." It rippled and advanced again.

_"God, no,"_ Daniel's mind shouted as the thing possessed him. Slimy, freezing mud coated his insides. As his body rigidified, his mouth dropped open in a wordless cry of agony. Chains jangled as icy sweat slicked his skin, revulsion spreading at the obscene violation.

Years winked out.

He was twelve, in the orphanage again. Tommy Jenkins's fists pounded him into the bathroom wall. Blood and pain and utter helplessness.  _ "NO!" _ his mind screamed in denial.

As the being exited behind him, Daniel went limp. Breath panting past his trembling lips, he blinked to restore his blurry vision and looked towards Teal'c. The Jaffa had never ceased moving!

"You lied," Daniel croaked.

"Doess it matter?"

Anger stiffening his spine, the anthropologist regained his feet and shouted, "Teal'c, stop! No matter what you do, they won't let up on me."

"He cannot hear you." The entity moved in front of him.

"Teal'c?" Daniel tried again. Moisture blurred his vision as the Jaffa's solid form kept up the activity. He glared at the ghost through the tears. "What do you want from us?"

With a billowing tilt of its head, the creature watched him, waiting.

"Why?" Daniel asked on a ragged sigh.

"Because we can." The thing seemed to smile as it floated from the cell.

Left alone, the scientist's tortured gaze strayed back to the Jaffa's moving shadow. "Teal'c?" he called.

Relentlessly, the Jaffa paced.

***

Sam bit back a moan as she slumped against the chains, fingers curling around the knobby metal as if she could break it. Although she could only see the colonel's shadow and the way he writhed from the alien's touch, her mind conjured up a full image of her teammate's torment. She knew his mouth would be a grim white slash even as his color grayed from pain. If he was enduring such suffering, what was happening to Daniel and Teal'c? The Jaffa would remain stoic but Daniel… Sam flinched from the agony she knew was written on that gentle, expressive face. The colonel and Teal'c would feel the same pain, but Daniel would be the one who'd allow it to show. Would these entities notice and exploit it?

With a metal scrape, the door to her cell slowly creaked open. Schooling her features into an expressionless mask, Sam glared at the slight human who'd entered. So, the ghostlike creatures weren't the only ones on this planet besides her friends. The man might well have been a spirit for his lackluster wisps of brown hair and pale skin. He had the aesthetic look of a medieval monk who'd died from starvation.

"Here for some fun and games of your own?" she snapped, remembering the burning dead cold of alien fingers on her forehead.

"I-I am Phineas. I have brought you nourishment. You will be able to eat in a few moments once I have released your bonds." He nervously placed a bowl on the ground. Edging away towards the door, the gaunt man stopped and stared in wonder. "I'm sorry. I would have you be one with me, but it is not yet my time. Know your sacrifice will help many."

"Your time for what?" Sam waited. She didn't allow her surprise to show at the normal sound of his voice. Did only the specters hiss?

With a quick, surprised blink, his pink-edged eyes shifted over her form. "You're beautiful. I-I wish…"

"Help us get out of here. We can be one later."

Panic twisted his long face, and his eyebrows quickly lifted towards his receding hairline as his hands plucked at his long, brown robes. "I-I can't," he stammered, "He'll punish me. I will be untouchable."

"Who?" Sam demanded. "Who'll punish you?"

"Cestus." The name was gasped on a whisper of fear.

"Who is that?"

"He rules here. He is Herder."

"Herder? You mean leader?"

Phineas' eyes blinked in surprise. "Yes? Do you not have herders among your people?"

With a frown, Sam weighed the choice of how much information she had to give in order to extract the facts they needed to escape. "We call them leaders," she admitted. "So Cestus is the…" she hesitated over the right word, "creature in charge."

"He is."

"What does he want with me and my teammates?"

He flinched at the hard tone of her words. "You are valuable to Gomorria because you will help complete the transformation of its people."

Glaring at him, Sam prodded. "What transformation?"

Phineas's brown eyes widened. "Your species does not change?"

"We evolve over time, but there is no quick metamorphosis." She frowned, remembering the Touched Virus.

"How strange. We require help, but the change burns brightly afterwards."

"What do you turn into?"

He tilted his head to one side. "You have seen the brood."

Suddenly, Sam understood. "Those things were once like you?"

"Yes."

"And you want to become like them? For God's sake, why?"

"They are free of the flesh, free to experience the sublime pleasure of another's soul. They are pure spirit."

Anger brightened Sam's eyes. "You mean at liberty to torture."

"You don't understand."

"You're right. I don't," she snapped. "I never will conceive why some beings thrive on other's pain."

"But-but it is necessary for…"

"Changing, yes I heard you," Sam's voice grew harsher. "What I don't understand is why someone would choose to change knowing it cost others great pain."

"But both benefit from the experience."

"How? My friends were suffering, and it hurt when they touched me. How does that help us?"

"Cestus said…"

"Ah, Cestus," Sam almost sneered the name. "He is in charge of who changes?" At his nod, she continued, "Explains why you fear him. What happens to those who don't mutate?"

"The ones selected for the honor have never refused."

"Then how about those who anger Cestus?"

Phineas cringed, moving towards the cell door.

"They become like my friends and me-fodder for Cestus's pleasure, don't they?" Sam demanded before he could disappear beyond it.

The raw-boned man glanced at her once, nodded, and fled.

***

Daniel fell to the hard floor as the wrist chains unexpectedly released him. A groan escaped his lips as his knees radiated throbbing discomfort to the rest of his body. Before he could move, his cell door crashed open, spilling bright light into the dank space, and two men entered. Blinking against the painful glare, Daniel couldn't repress a cry as they cruelly gripped his arms and yanked him upright.

"Wait…" he begged as he was dragged from the chamber. He weakly struggled in their grasp, knowing it might be the only opportunity to free his friends. Although they were not large guards by any means, they had the power to move him along despite his feeble efforts. Enervated more than he'd known by the torture, he couldn't stop them from opening another cell and tossing him in like refuse. Daniel saw Jack's semi-conscious form in the seconds before the closing door plunged them both in darkness.

"Jack?" he croaked.

"No…more," came the ragged whisper from directly in front of him.

"M'here," Daniel comforted, crawling towards the sound. As his face bumped into his friend's legs, O'Neill cried out. "I'm sorry," the scientist whispered.

The apology filtered through the gauze of agony surrounding Jack's mind. "Daniel?" he rasped in a voice made raw from screaming.  _ Thank God it wasn't one of those creatures _ . Their attacks were infrequent, but he couldn't sense them in the darkness. They'd entered him without warning.

"Yeah."

"How'd you get free?"

"I didn't. They brought me here."

"Are your hands bound?"

"Uh, no," Daniel said with a wince. Feeling had returned to his arms in painful, pricking tingles.

"Can you get me loose?"

"I-I'm not sure. I'll try." Biting his lower lip, Daniel braced his shaking hands against the cold stone floor. His arms protested, but he locked his elbows. Long moments later, he triumphantly stood on trembling legs.

"Well?"

Daniel's mouth opened, angry hurt flooding him at the callousness of Jack's all-business tone. He was doing the best he could. Never mind if  _ he _ was hurting.  _ "Jack's in pain and probably worrying about Sam and Teal'c. Give him a break." _

"Daniel?" O'Neill's irritation was clear.

"Let me see," the scientist said softly as he reached out.

"Ow!"

"Sorry," Daniel murmured, knowing he'd accidentally struck the wound in his teammate's shoulder. Drying blood felt sticky on his fingers.

"Don't do that."

Not sure if the older man was referring to the apology or the reason behind it, Daniel sighed. "'kay." He gently moved his hands up Jack's arms to feel around the metal shackles. "I-I don't feel any catch."

"Take your time," Jack advised through obviously gritted teeth.

Sweating now, more from the knowledge he was hurting his friend than from his body's weakness, Daniel did as he was told. The icy rings enclosing the soldier's wrists were as unbreakable as the ones which had bound his own. "There's no opening," he admitted at last, his voice rough with fatigue and defeat.

"There has to be."

"I can't find it!" Daniel snapped, his patience overridden by fear.

A long disappointed pause. "Take it easy," Jack soothed in a kinder manner.

His breath hitching in his throat, Daniel mentally sent his pounding heart a command to slow down. There seemed to be nothing he could do to help.

"Relax for a moment, and try again."

Shaking his head, Daniel refused. If Jack couldn't rest, then neither would he. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"What the hell are you doing?" O'Neill gasped as supporting arms came around his waist.

"Relieving the strain on your arms a bit."

As the other man half lifted him against his own body, Jack's eyes squeezed shut at the surge of pain in his wounded shoulder. "Put me down," he gritted out.

"In a sec…" The promise sounded breathless.

"Dammit, Daniel…"

"I can do this, Jack," the scientist protested. "Let me help you."

"You're not helping…you're hurting."

Anguish flashed across the younger man's face. He gently eased his friend down, shame warming the tips of his ears. "I-I'm s-"

"Don't say it," Jack warned. "I'm tired, and kicking your butt is not the first thing on my agenda when I get out of these." Metal clanked in the darkness.

"So what should I do?"

"Like I said, rest for a bit. After that, we…"

Before he could finish, the cell door screeched open, spilling light into the darkness. A filmy ebony shape fluttered on the threshold.

Daniel didn't think. He threw himself toward it, seeing freedom beyond the door for himself and his friends.

"Go, Danny!" Jack encouraged.

Blasting through the ice-cold creature, Daniel slammed into two huge guards. Air whooshed out of his lungs with a grunt as they caught him and shoved him back. He fought with the remains of his energy, battling with a rage born of desperation. It wasn't until they'd slammed his face into the solid white wall that sanity returned in a crash.

"Daniel!"

Aware of Jack's shouting, he managed despite the thickness of a bloody nose, "M'okay."

"Let him go."

O'Neill's demand brought surprising results. The guards complied, abandoning Daniel with an abruptness which left him clinging to the wall for support. Rage had drained him of his limited energy.

"Foolishnesss," said the specter while the guards exited and closed the door. The cell remained illuminated by unseen lighting as if the walls had the power to glow.

"You set that up," Jack bitterly accused.

"Perhapss."

Breathing heavily, Daniel turned. "Get him out of those," he nodded towards the soldier's restraints.

"No."

"Why?" Daniel tried to keep the panic from his voice, but the sight of the bloody wound in his teammate's shoulder filled him with dread. The older man might bleed to death while they negotiated terms for release.

Instead of answering, the phantom glided closer to O'Neill.

"No, you don't," Daniel objected, half-staggering to put himself between the thing and his friend.

"Daniel, what are you doing?"

"It's gonna have to go through me to get to you," the scientist declared with a defiant lift of his chin. He swayed.

"Don't be stupid!"

The entity paused, watching.

"I'm not," Daniel said, eyeing the filmy shape with barely concealed trepidation.

A muscle in Jack's jaw jerked. "Get out of the way. That's an order." He bit his lip as his friend merely straightened and waited. Panic filled him.  _ He couldn't endure this again! _ "You don't know what it can do," Jack pleaded, fear flaring as the creature began to advance on them.

"Yes, I do," Daniel said quietly seconds before it passed into him. He went rigid with a silent cry of denial on his lips.

"Leave him alone!" Jack's outcry echoed in the small space. His eyes burned as he watched the younger man shiver violently before he collapsed like a broken puppet as the alien popped from his body. Regret lasted only seconds before the thing filled him with its vile, slimy presence.

"No!" Jack wasn't sure if he'd shouted in his mind or aloud. Years peeled back like skin. Another prison. Another innocent trying to help him.  _ "Dalton," _ O'Neill's mind pleaded,  _ "Stay outta this. It's me they want." _

_"No, Jack," refused the dead man's voice in his head, "You're too valuable to lose. Let them waste their time with me."_

_Blood and vomit and the horrible stench of urine as Dalton was tortured…._

"Get out of my head!" O'Neill shouted just as the thing left him. His mind felt raped, and for the briefest moment, he wasn't sure what year it was.

"Come on…afraid of someone who's not restrained?" Daniel taunted, raggedly moving once again between his friend and the translucent beast. He ignored the warm tears staining a path down his dirty cheeks.

"D-Daniel," Jack rasped as the scientist's voice grounded him. He was surprised to see the other man on his feet again so soon after the ordeal. "Get away. It's me they want." He blanched as he echoed the words of long ago…a time when innocent blood had been spilled for him.

"No." Heart pounding in his ears and thoroughly nauseous, Daniel swayed but remained upright. A distant buzz filled his ears as he hovered on the edge of unconsciousness.

The alien looked less tangible now, yet sparkled in the dim light. "Yessss," it hissed, closing in again.

"Move…" Jack's hoarse scream was wasted. His vulnerable friend remained his shield.

His eyes widening slightly as the creature hesitated in front of him, Daniel snapped, "Pick on someone else you big bully." It swooped into him. Shock paused his heart. His life-force seemed to be sucking out of him.  _ "Buddy Hinkle," _ supplied Daniel's mind,  _ "I'm not afraid of you." _ But he was. Memories of fists slamming against his unprotected body swamped him. No one cared enough to interfere. He was merely the afternoon's entertainment: the dork getting pulverized for the enjoyment of his jeering classmates.  _ "I'm not afraid…not afraid…afraid…help me!" _ The only thing keeping him on his feet was the possession. When the being drifted out, Daniel's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed.

"No," Jack shouted as his friend's body lay curled near his feet. He yanked on the chains as if he could break them and immediately regretted it as his shoulder shrieked. "No…" he whispered.

"Pleasssed…." said the alien as it floated through the door.

"Daniel?" Jack's voice cracked as he stared at the younger man. The scientist looked as broken as Dalton had. Bitter tears burned Jack's eyes, spilling over his pale cheeks. Without warning, his mind tripped backward, the past more real than the present as his brain tried to shut out the ugliness of another innocent lying dead at his feet.

***

Sam rubbed her raw wrists as two large guards escorted her from her cell. With their meaty fingers firmly clamped around her arms, she knew she couldn't escape them in this dimly lit corridor.  _ "Besides…they might take me to a place where I can find a way to get us out of here." _ Surprised by the low lighting,  _ had it seemed only brighter from the pitch black of her cell _ , she nonetheless blinked in the light. Her feet lagged as she was led through a long passage. They reached a junction where two corridors intersected. She was pushed left, away from the endless row of cell doors. She only wanted to find her missing teammates in this long hallway of misery. Was that low moan Daniel? Sam tried to look behind her, but she was propelled forward towards a double stone staircase. One circled left, the other right. They guided her towards the left one.

"Hello," said a familiar voice.

"Phineas?" Sam said, surprise lifting her eyebrows as he approached them, "Was this your doing?"

He seemed to shrink from the idea. "Cestus has asked to see you."

"Why me?"

"I have told him of you, and he was intrigued."

_"Oh great,"_ Sam thought, _"Another lovelorn alien."_

"Do not fear. Your beauty will sway him. You will become part of the brood."

Although everything inside her screamed a denial at the idea, Sam nodded easily. "I'd like to know more about your people," she evaded.

"Perhaps in time and if Cestus agrees."

"Why wouldn't he want me to learn about you?"

Phineas opened his mouth then shut it again as they arrived at a massive set of thick double doors. Flowing strands of burnished copper made faces of flames on the black metal as if tormented souls were trapped inside the design. "I'll leave you now," he said quietly, slipping away into the semi-darkness.

"Not in the mood to see the boss today, huh?" she commented, wondering if that boded ill or good. Trapped by the two guards holding her, she waited with them in front of the entrance. When neither made a move to knock on the closed doors, Sam frowned. Was Cestus so omnipotent they felt it unnecessary to do so?

"Enter," boomed a deep, proud voice echoing on the other side.

As the doors slowly swung open, Sam peered into the gloom wreathing the cavernous chamber. Curls of pearly iridescent smoke swirled in the space as if a magical fog had been trapped within. Shoved hard by the two guards, she stumbled forward into the heart of the room. They quickly retreated. The doors clanged shut before she could protest the rough treatment.

"Welcome."

Looking around for the owner of the ominous, resonant voice, Sam frowned when she couldn't see him. "Thank you," she replied. "I think," she added under her breath. The line between her eyebrows deepened as she noticed the pieces of the M.A.L.P. scattered about on a nearby slab of rock like some bizzare trophies. The sharp parts were twisted into macabre shapes as if they were horrific objects of art.

"You are not of this luminous body. Where do you come from?"

"My companions and I are explorers."

"Where do you come from?" The repeated question held a measure of warning.

Sam mentally sighed, weighing the options of giving enough to satisfy without betraying security. "A place called Earth."

"Earth."

As the word resounded in the chamber, Sam tried to control her growing irritation. She couldn't alienate the Herder if she wanted to save her friends.

"On this Earth are there many such as your companions?"

Sam blinked. "What? People?"

"Yesss."

Hearing the slight hiss of the word, Sam frowned. Even though this Herder had not completely changed, he had at least a little of one of the qualities of those who had. "Quite a few."

"And will they come through the portal?"

"No," she quickly said, knowing it was highly likely Hammond would send a team to find out what had happened to SG-1. When that occurred, she didn't want them to be captured too.

"A pity."

"Why?"

"Your species has a richness of spirit…much more so than the others who live in the borders beyond Gommoria. The change is brighter with your essence. At least, it is so with two of your number."

"The colonel and Daniel," Sam guessed.

"Yessss."

Although she didn't want to experience any more of the Gommorian's icy touches, Sam's curiosity couldn't prevent her from asking, "My essence and Teal'c's were unacceptable?

"The Jaffa shields his soul as do you. We have encountered his kind before. They do not satisfy."

" _ More Goa'uld mental armor _ ," Sam thought, as grateful for Jolinar's possession as she had been on the Gamekeeper's world. "Why do you need our essences?"

"They complete the change."

"You mean by using our souls, your people transform themselves? What of us?"

Silence.

Sam squared her shoulders. "What happens to us?" she asked again.

"Once the spirit is drained, you are fruitless."

Her heart pounding in her throat, she clarified, "We die."

"Yessss, if that is what you call it when the vessel no longer contains the soul."

"What happens to the soul?" Even as she asked the question, Sam couldn't believe herself. There was a time in college when she'd believed no one had souls or an existence beyond the earthly one. The death of a close friend had changed her mind. She shuddered, remembering a ghostly visit one dreary February night.

"It survives in those who partake of it."

"You mean your people cannibalize spirits?"

"I do not understand this word cannibalize."

"You consume spirit."

"Yes."

"Why? Will your spirits drain if you don't?"

"It is pleasurable."

Sick revulsion changed to anger. Paling with fury, she snapped, "So you kill people because it feels good? What kind of society allows that?"

Without warning, a being as tall as Teal'c stepped from the clinging tendrils of mist. Unlike his brood, the Herder had corporeal form. His golden blond hair flowed around his shoulders like a biblical prophet, and his long face with its strong jaw held all the powerful beauty of an archangel. Above his patrician nose, his sea-green eyes glittered with interest. "One that has advanced," he said with a haughty lift of his thick upper lip, "beyond your meager society."

"How can you think that? We cherish life…protect it in any way we can. You waste it."

"Your friend's lives will not be wasted. Their spirits will be absorbed by the brood, nourishing and sustaining those who wish to transform."

The pitch of Sam's voice rose a little in surprise. "Then not everyone seeks to change?"

A frown marred the man's broad forehead. "The unenlightened do not. They are then chosen to nourish others."

"So you can either mutate or die. Great choice."

Pity softened the bright, interested glitter in his green eyes. "It is. You will understand more soon." He held out his hand, palm up. It was empty.

Sam stared at the long, artistic fingers, wondering what he wanted of her. As she watched, a shimmer of gold formed, slowly shaping itself into a goblet of wondrous design. The chalice resembled a winged being with glittering ruby eyes.

_"A griffin? A seraphim? A dragon? Daniel would know…"_ Sam thought, studying the intricate container. It shifted shape as she looked almost as if it could read her mind and transform into whatever her imagination conjured. Inside, a sparkling ebony liquid soaked up the diffuse light around it.

"You will drink."

"Uh, no," Sam shook her head, crossing her arms across her chest. "Thanks very much, but I had a light meal on the plane." Her lips quirked as she realized she sounded like the colonel.

"If you wish to understand the brood, you will partake."

She couldn't repress a shiver of revulsion. "I'm fairly bright. Why don't I try it the old fashioned way? You tell me about your brood, and I'll listen. I'm sure I can pick up all I need to know."

"If you do not taste of this fruit, I will send the brood to swarm your companions."

Sam didn't like the sound of that. "Swarm?"

His sculpted mouth twisted in malicious anticipation. "It is very painful for the giver. Their essences are torn from them as if they were set upon by scavengers."

Paling, Sam swallowed visibly as she took the cup from his hand. The goblet felt surprisingly light for such heavy metal but burned her fingers with cold. Daniel's face materialized in her thoughts. He and the colonel would do the same for her if they were in her place. Before she faltered and threw the cup away, she quickly drained its oily contents.

The syrupy liquid had no taste. Blinking with surprise, Sam handed the Herder the chalice. As he watched her with eager eyes, she shrugged, "Okay. Thanks for the drink. Can I take my friends and go now?"

His sensuous mouth widened in a smile. "Perhaps."

A dizzying rush of heat shot through her at his easy acquiescence. "F-fine," she gasped. "Then we can leave?" Flames erupted in her bloodstream. With a gasp of agony, Sam clutched her stomach, doubling over as an inner fire burned through her.

An affectionate, paternal expression transforming his angel's face into a glowing image of love, the Herder gently reached out to stroke her hair. "You will thank me for this gift," he said tenderly, leaning over to kiss her temple.

"W-what have you d-done to me?" Sam managed.

"You are of the brood," he answered her with easy grace.

As she felt her form dissolving, Sam's mouth opened in a howl of horror. Hunger, swift and cruel beyond anything she had ever known, consumed her. She had to feed. Now.

"Your friends await you."

The room shimmered, everything glowing brightly now as if the sun had gone nova inside it. Dazzling colors of every hue sparkled everywhere she looked. The Herder was a radiant being…the most beautiful of all.

"Yessss," Sam hissed, knowing she needed her friends more than ever. Hungering for their essence, she glided through the closed doors towards the cells below.

Teal'c's legs were beginning to falter, but he narrowed his eyes and kept walking. To stop meant pain for Daniel Jackson. There was no way he was willing to face O'Neill and tell him he'd willingly allowed harm to come to the younger man. Sweat beaded on his brow, dripping freely in the stale air of the cell. The space reeked of sweat and effort.

Glancing to his right, Teal'c saw the filmy shape fluttering before the suspended anthropologist's form. Although he had been unable to communicate with Daniel these last fifteen hours, the Jaffa knew the young man had to be at the limits of his endurance. The scientist was no athlete and no warrior even if he had the heart of one. If that thing entered him now, it might even kill him with the shock.

Although the creatures had been unsatisfied entering him, the Jaffa knew the icy pain of their touch. He could only hope Colonel O'Neill and Captain Carter were not being threatened as Daniel Jackson was. There was no way he could know without the anthropologist's help, and that help did not seem forthcoming any time soon.

Ragged with weariness from the physical duress, Teal'c hardened his resolve and pushed his exhausted body on. Only death would stop him from continuing to move.

***

_It was sultry…hotter than any night he could remember since coming to this hellhole. The dusty, medicinal stench of eucalyptus permeated the space, making the air seem even heavier with the earthen scent. Jack groaned low in his throat as broken bones scraped against each other. Inside his mouth, his tongue felt stale and shriveled and dry…way too dry. Why was it so quiet? He could hear the distant anguish of prisoners in the far cells but where was…_

_"Dalton?" His friend's name was a dry husk on his cracked lips. No answer. Jack's eyes slitted open. The blurred cell tilted, came into focus, and then went fuzzy again. His eyelids closed. Another moan, this one mental, filtered through his head. Concussion. Had to be. "Dalton," he tried again, "you here?"_

_"Y-yes, s-sir," came the youth's weak voice to his immediate right._

_The pain-filled admission lent O'Neill the strength to open his eyes again. He struggled into a sitting position and winced as his neck twinged. Too many damn hours spent crooked against a stupid stone wall. "Are you badly hurt?"_

_"I'm f-fine." The lie was obvious by the half sob in the word._

_Locating the other man in the dimness wasn't easy, but once he did, Jack flinched. He gritted his teeth as he slowly made his way to his companion, his broken arm cradled against his chest._

_The sweat covering Dalton's ashen face told a grim tale as did the blood frothing at the corner of his mouth. The kid had internal injuries. If they didn't get help soon, he wasn't going to make it. "My fault." Jack told himself, "They used him to break me, but I wouldn't. I didn't talk, and now he's paying the price for my stubbornness. God…"_

_"Don't, Jack." The ragged rasp of a plea filled the room._

_O'Neill's brave heart cracked. Tears shimmered unshed in his vulnerable eyes. He wasn't much older than his teammate. Why did he have all the responsibility? "Don't talk, Dalton." he protested. "Conserve your energy."_

_"Jack?"_

_A heavy sigh lingered on O'Neill's lips. "What?"_

_"Proud t-to have served…with you."_

_Breath catching in his throat as the specter of death hovered near, Jack growled, "Don't do that. You're gonna make it. Don't you dare give up on me."_

_"Jack?"_

"Jack?"

"Dalton," O'Neill moaned.

"Jack, please wake up," Daniel pleaded.

Eyes twitching under his lids, the soldier tried. Ever so slowly, his lashes rose. Daniel's tear-stained cheeks glistened. The kid looked exhausted beyond belief, but he was alive, and some light remained in the white walls of the cell. It was enough, with his teammate's help, to keep the nightmares at arm's length.

"Daniel…" the name was whispered on a relieved breath.

"I'm here. How bad is the pain?"

An internal body check disclosed the throbbing knife wound, strained arms, and pulled back muscles. All in all, it could've been worse.  _ "Maybe it is," _ reminded his thoughts. The weakness in his body worried him. With a mental shudder, O'Neill closed the door in his mind on his lack of energy and the past. Dalton's face briefly superimposed itself over Daniel's. Why hadn't he noticed before how much the two men were alike? "I'll survive," he assured dryly. "You?"

Daniel swayed on his feet. His face looked deathly pale, but his voice stayed firm. "Ready to blow this pop stand."

His lips twitching, Jack winced from a laugh and coughed raggedly. He couldn't seem to drag enough air into his straining lungs with his arms above him.

"Easy," Daniel soothed, simply laying a hand on his cheek for an instant.

Comforted by the brief touch, O'Neill gathered his strength around him like a suit of invisible armour.  _ "Not much of one," _ he admitted to himself,  _ "but it's better than nothing." _

"I-I'm sorry I couldn't stop it."

Knowing he meant the creature who'd tormented them, Jack growled, "Don't worry about it. I wouldn't have been able to either. You did the best you could. In fact, next time, I want you to make another break for the door. Maybe those gorillas won't be out there. Get to the gate, and get home."

"I'm not gonna leave you guys."

"You're gonna do whatever you need to to survive. Got that?"

Daniel looked away and didn't answer.

"I said, got that?"

"Sure."

Some of the energy fading from his body, Jack shivered. He knew the kid wouldn't leave him. Neither had Dalton and look where that had ended. Brown eyes darkened with grief.

"Jack?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you think Sam and Teal'c are okay? I know we can't hear Teal'c because he was in the cell next to mine, but you said you could hear Sam. She's been awfully quiet."

"I know," O'Neill admitted, worried about the same thing, "but maybe they moved her in with Teal'c just like they put you in here."

"Oh." Slight relief colored the anthropologist's tone, "I hadn't thought of that. You're probably right. Jack?"

O'Neill mentally sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This twenty questions game was Daniel's way of inserting normalcy into their macabre predicament.  _ "Just like you do when you smart off," _ said his mind. "Yeah?"

"W-when those things, uh…possess you, do you have flashbacks?"

"Yes."

Knowing he should leave it there at his friend's abrupt tone, Daniel found he couldn't. Jack's eyes held a wildness which terrified him. It was if a stranger had entered the body of his friend and refused to leave. Yet, that wasn't how the entities worked which scared the scientist even more. The soldier was barely holding on to sanity.

The muscles in Daniel's jaw tightened. He had to learn all he could about their captors. It was more than his scientific need to know about the civilizations they encountered; it was survival. He had to find something which would help Jack. "Are your visions violent?"

"For cryin' out loud," O'Neill growled, too tired and too miserable to go further with this line of questioning, "if you can't talk about ways to escape, then be quiet and let me rest."

Daniel felt as if the air had been punched out of him. He silently studied the grim line of his companion's mouth. Didn't Jack understand?  _ "Maybe he knows it's hopeless, and all you're doing is tormenting him," _ sniped the voice in his head. Old fears and uncertainties rose to knot in his throat. Why did he think he could make a difference?

Seeing the wounded look on the gentle face, the soldier winced. The sharp fear of the invasion of his mind bothered him more than anything, but why take it out on his friend? He'd managed to hurt Daniel with careless words again.  _ "I do that a lot. Why does he bring out the worst in me?" _ Briefly closing his eyes to rebuild his mental defenses, Jack couldn't escape the niggling voice which whispered the scientist also brought out the best. "Sorry."

Blue eyes blinked, then widened in surprise at the soft apology. "No, I am," he quickly countered.

"Well let's both build a bridge and get over it. You look like forty miles of bad road." Finding the energy to muster a grin, Jack was glad he did so when the other man's bright flash of a smile mirrored his.

At the hint of his friend's acerbic wit, a small measure of relief soothed Daniel. "Hey, I didn't get personal. Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

Jack shrugged, then instantly regretted it as his shoulder stabbed. "I go for the wash and wear look…. as long as it's been washed, I'll wear it."

"Explains why you prefer these," Daniel plucked at his uniform, "to civvies."

"I do not."

"Do too."

"Do…" Jack began and broke off at the sound of movement in the corridor. Visitors. "Round three," he said in a bitter, low voice.

Fear and failure darkened Daniel's eyes, painting lines of defeat around them. Each time those things left him, he had a little less energy…a little less life. It was the same with Jack only for some reason, it seemed to be taking his sanity as well. Glancing at his companion, he tried to hide what he was feeling and straightened.

"It's okay, Daniel," Jack murmured. "We'll beat ‘em. Just don't get in the way this time. You're not helping me any."

"You don't know that, Jack," Daniel protested.

Sighing, the soldier shook his head. No matter what he said, the other man would find some way to bear a portion of the agony.  _ "You'd do the same for him, _ " reminded his mind. With a nod, Jack waited for the entity to arrive.

It floated through the door and hesitated. Although it seemed like it wanted to rush at them, the filmy shape held back. It looked vaguely familiar.

"What?" Jack snapped, "Can't make up your mind?"

"Colonel….." it sighed.

O'Neill heard Daniel's quick intake of breath, and although it was only a hint of its former self, he also recognized Carter's voice.

"Sam?" Daniel's horror was apparent by the way his inflection cracked on her name.

"What happened, Captain?" Purposely keeping his tone military in a report-to-me way, O'Neill hoped to center them.

"The-the Herder made me drink some ssstuff. It changed me."

Brown eyes narrowing at the hiss of her words, Jack said dryly, "Ya think? Can't say it's much of an improvement although you might become the poster girl for the new diet craze of the century."

Sam drifted towards them, the ghastly pallor of her skin making it hard to tell if it was her skull or her face they saw. She was more shadow than human.

Daniel realized he was staring at the wall through her stomach and winced. "Are you okay?" He needed to help but didn't know how.

"It burnsss," Sam admitted. "Conssuming me. It's growing worsse."

"Hang on, Captain. Doc Fraiser will figure out a way to reverse this," O'Neill assured her.

"Yesss, Colonel."

"Sam, where are we?" Daniel asked, surprised by the fact Jack hadn't.

"Gomorrian holding cellss."

"Gomorria?" The anthropologist's mind searched for the knowledge of these people. His forehead wrinkled as he tried to remember.

"That is the name for the brood."

Gommoria…Gommoria…" Daniel muttered. "Maybe the people from Gomorrah?"

"Who?" Jack asked, not really wanting to know but welcoming any distraction from their present situation.

"In the Old Testament," Daniel said, "Sodom's sister city."

"Oh, Sodom." Jack's voice held a trace of his usual sarcasm, "Those were the people who were really fond of assholes, right?"

"Sorta," Daniel admitted with a wince, "According to the Bible, God destroyed both cities because they were corrupt and wicked. Do you suppose the annihilation of those ancient towns was done by a Goa'uld ship and the remainder of the people brought here? If so, what happened to the Goa'uld, and how did they get free?"

"Does that really matter right now?" Jack's patience with the history lesson was exhausted.

Daniel opened his mouth to assert it did when Sam cried out.

Her "face" twisting in a horrible grimace as her filmy form coalesced, Carter shivered with unbearable agony. A deep cry escaped her.

"Sam!"

"Carter!"

Daniel and Jack's shouts were simultaneous, but she didn't hear them as the internal fire scorched up a notch. Sam moved towards Daniel…needing desperately to feed.

Feeling no fear, he approached her, his hands held out to try and ease. He cried out as his fingers went through her shoulder.

Sam shivered, cooled slightly by the brief touch. Colors flared to brilliant intensity, making the room glow like a stained glass window in full sun. His gentleness and compassion washed over her in a wave of giddiness. Trembling, it took all she had not to rush him and drink more of his vibrant spirit.

Cradling his inflamed hand against his chest, Daniel took a step back, his blue eyes widening in fear behind his glasses. Drained by the contact, he sensed her hunger. "Sam, don't," he begged softly.

Understanding filled O'Neill's exhausted face. Not this. Not now. "Stand down, Captain," he commanded, his gaze flicking from her to Daniel.

Sam cried out again as agony twisted her form. She shimmered. Her body drifted closer, drawn by the brightness of their spirits. How had the Herder's people resisted them at all? Even in their weakened state, the two men shone like beacons in the dead of night. "I-I'm trying, Colonel," she sobbed and writhed again.

"Jack, we've gotta help her," Daniel turned to him, his eyes fervent with the need to do something, anything.

"I know," O'Neill snapped back, "but I can't do much like this, can I?" His fingers clenched the chains binding his wrists as if he could will them to disintegrate.

Realizing how hard it was for the older man to be so helpless, Daniel turned to Sam. "Maybe you can figure out a way to unlock those things?"

In excruciating torment, Sam couldn't answer. She reached out one filmy hand. It brushed against Daniel's chest. His scream went unnoticed as the fire inside her dimmed slightly before raging again. "D-dying," she whispered, sinking to the floor.

Knowing she wouldn't ever willingly lie to them, O'Neill's eyes narrowed. She seemed to revive a little whenever she touched Daniel. Perhaps the only way she could live was to do what her body demanded. "Stand aside, Daniel," he said, his jaw tightening as he decided.

"Uh, no," the scientist argued with a shake of his head.

"Dammit, the only way she's gonna live is if she does what those damn things did. I'm not willing to lose a member of this team. Are you?"

"You can't do it. A few more times Jack, and we're gonna lose you."

"Get out of the way," O'Neill glared at his stubborn friend.

Averting his eyes from the other man's insistent gaze, Daniel squatted in front of Sam.

"Daniel!" Jack growled.

Biting his lip, he held out both hands. They passed into her. It felt like holding a block of ice in a freezer. His mouth fell open in an inarticulate cry, and he shivered visibly.

Instantly, Sam's torment ceased, the burning disappearing as if it had only existed in her mind. She moved into his embrace. With the merging, joy shot through her on a bright tide of iridescent rainbow colors. Purple as deep as the darkest amethyst, yellow like spring jonquils, and green the shade of new leaves in a late summer sunset spun and danced in patterns around them. Her friend's innocent spirit made her soul oscillate in harmony with the music of the spheres.  _ "Angel's song," _ her mind thought with the deepest reverence and wonder.

_Colder than the grave, Daniel's eyes flooded with tears. His body ached as if he'd been set upon by a whole contingent of bullies. The shame of losing swamped him. He was good for nothing except for evoking contemptuous laughter. Buddy Hinkle's pockmarked face loomed over him as fists hit him again and again. His collarbone broke, a tooth cracked, blood filling his mouth with the coppery taste of weakness. "He's killing me," he thought as his spirit flickered and dimmed. It felt as if he were emptying into the vast, uncaring unknown. All that would be left when Buddy Hinkle finished with him was a pathetic, lifeless husk of a loser._

_"If you scream, I'll stop," Buddy promised, "Just one little scream, creep."_

_"No," Daniel pleaded, knowing it was vital he not make a sound. Someone important would be hurt if he did, the same someone who needed him to be strong._

_"A simple tear, wimp. C'mon…let me hear you call for mama. Oh that's right, you don't have one do you?"_

_Biting his quivering lower lip, Daniel tried to keep the anguish in. A sob hovered behind his clenched teeth._

_Fists and feet and merciless laughter. "Why won't you cry, you worthless piece of shit?"_

_"I won't! I won't!" Daniel thought in the seconds before a ragged scream ripped past his lips. His antagonist's joy battered him as much as his fists._

"Enough, Captain!" Jack shouted as he saw Daniel fading before his horrified eyes. The tortured man's hoarse scream made him flinch. The barriers shattered in his mind, no longer able to cage the past.  _ "Dalton can't take any more…no..not Dalton…Daniel…" _ Sanity teetered.

Not having drunk sufficiently, Sam stepped out of her friend and watched in amazement as he toppled sideways. His fallen form continued to call to her. Something yet remained in him. Her soul demanded she drain it.

"Carter, stop," Jack pleaded desperately.

Looking at her commanding officer, Sam was amazed by how he seemed to glow so much brighter than the wretched human at her feet. She moved around Daniel, drunk by the dazzling light of the other soul. Hunger was appeased but not abated. She could still consume a little more.

Weakly lifting his head, Daniel reached out one violently trembling hand to stop her progress. "No…" he rasped. The effort undid him. Unconsciousness swooped down, weighting him against the icy stone floor, his cheek pillowed against it.

"Captain!" Jack knew his face reflected the terror of seeing one friend lying nearly dead at his feet and another about to kill him. His mind began to fall over the brink of a dark abyss as she paused in front of him. Sam's shimmering form sparkled like a black diamond. Light sucked into her as if she were a channel for some vast force.

Unable to stop herself, like a moth drawn to the bright inferno of extinction, Sam entered O'Neill with a sigh of pleasure. She stretched, enjoying the ebb of his courage as it flowed into her. He felt different than Daniel-more powerful somehow in a hard-edged kind of way. They both had strength. Daniel's seemed born of a need to be accepted while the colonel's lay rooted in anger, the kind which made every day a challenge to be met and overcome. She reveled in the fierce bravado of his warrior's soul.

Crying out, Jack saw the bastards breaking Dalton's nose, his fingers, and his ribs. He bit his lip, trying desperately not to shout out the information their captors wanted. He couldn't. God, how could he? The crack of bone and the sharp stench of urine as the kid wet himself in the midst of pain filled the dismal cell with reeking misery. Yet, the price of violating his silence could mean the death of their unit. They had to get in and out without detection. National security demanded it. As Dalton screamed, Jack echoed the howl of anguish. Everything went white then black as one of their tormenters, irritated by his refusal to speak, smashed his fist against the side of his head. Unconsciousness was a blessed relief to a man who yearned only to die.

Floating from O'Neill's unconscious body, Sam felt sated. Daniel's spirit had slaked the worst of the hunger so there hadn't been a need to take as much from the colonel. Yet, the mixture of soulsong from the both of them fulfilled her like never before. It was exultation akin to touching the face of God. She had glimpsed the miracle of creation and knew how the cosmos had been formed in a warm dance of spirit. Life singing in her veins, she floated from the silent prison cell. The drained bodies of her friends went unnoticed as she went in search of new spirits to explore. In the corridor, a sudden need possessed her. Fighting the urge to return to the Herder and merge with him, Sam continued towards the next cell, hoping to slake the tiny bit of hunger which yet remained.

***

"Find her!" the Herder raged at the four guards who stood trembling before him.

"By all that's sacred, we have tried. We cannot locate the woman." The tallest Gommorian's admission was made timidly.

"I must know if she completed the ritual. I sense Carter has drunk twice of the essence. If she does not do so a third time, her conversion will be incomplete. You know she will not transform. Shall you allow this, Phineas?"

Pinned beneath the vehement glare of his master, the thin man shivered and shook his head. "No, Herder. She will be of great value to the brood."

"Yesss," he hissed, "I have seen it. Her knowledge will provide us with many new souls like her companions. We must have them!" He paced, his white robes undulating like watered silk in a soft breeze behind him. "I will not have her escape! Her two friends are nearly depleted. They may not feed more than one or two now unless we give them time to recover. I cannot do so. Word of their existence has spread among the brood. They are in great demand." His zealous eyes stared at each guard, daring him to be the one to deny their people this important gift. "Go, find her, and bring her to me."

"Yes, Herder." As one, three of the guards bowed and left the cell.

Phineas remained.

"Why have you disobeyed me?"

Despite the harsh tone, the gaunt man didn't flee. "I-I have a question."

"Speak."

"The-the ones who sacrifice. Carter said the brood's touch caused great pain. Is that so?"

Something wild flared in the bright green eyes before a mask of gentle understanding concealed it. "Do you believe this?"

"I-I'm not sure."

"This is because you have not drunk of the spirit, Phineas. If you had, you would not question."

"P-please forgive me," Phineas said, terrified yet needing to know, "but why do the chosen scream with such terror?"

"It is not fear you hear, my child, but delight."

Remembering how his friend Daemon had cried when he had been swarmed, Phineas looked away. It had not sounded pleasant, and his corpse had been twisted in rigors of agony. "Herder?"

Green eyes narrowed. This was becoming most annoying. "Yes?"

"How do you know Carter will lead us to her people? She swore she would not do such a thing."

Perfect white teeth flashed in a savage smile. "Carter has tasted spirit. Once that happens, there is no turning back. She will want more. Perhaps it is time for you to drink the essence. You will understand then."

For the first time in his life, Phineas knew fear at the suggestion of the change. He nodded reluctantly.

The Herder sighed. "Go now before daylight grows. If Carter makes it outside, it will be up to you and your men to recapture her before the sunlight touches her body. It will undo all of the work we have begun. Remember, the brood cannot help you until the sun has set."

"Yes, Herder." It was obvious from his tone the guard didn't want to leave the complex. The light did not hurt him as much as it did those who had changed, but he still found it painful after spending most of his time in the underground complex.

As the scrawny man turned to do his bidding, the herder called, "And Phineas?"

"My lord?"

"You will understand it all when you partake of the nectar. Do not invite me to believe you are unworthy."

Fear twisted the servant's pale face. "No, Herder." He fled.

The Herder's handsome face grew cold and remote, the features of a fallen angel. "Where are you, Carter?" His words held the hiss of a snake.

***

Weary beyond thought, Teal'c stopped as the door to his cell opened. No one stood there. He cautiously moved forward, despite his aching legs which demanded he rest. Before he could exit, a shadow loomed. The Jaffa surged forward, not fearing the creature. To his surprise, it fell back.

"Teal'c?"

"Captain Carter?" he stopped in surprise, recognizing her voice.

A pitiless joy filled her as she swooped into him.

Teal'c stiffened at the trauma of burning pain.

Sam felt as if she'd slammed into an iceberg. The shock of impact knocked her from him. She wavered, uncertain at his total lack of spirit. She knew he had one. Were his mental shields that strong?

"Captain Carter," the Jaffa growled, breathing heavily. "You will move away." He had no idea how to defend himself against her threat, but he intended to try.

Sam blinked and swayed as if drunk. "Teal'c?" she questioned, as if awakening from a long sleep. Shaking her head, she pleaded, "You musst help the colonel…and Daniel."

"Take me to them." He wasn't going to waste time asking how she had been transformed when their teammates needed assistance. Teal'c followed her floating form as it moved past the cell where he'd thought Daniel had been. Lines wrinkled his forehead as she led him to the one beyond it and entered through the closed door. He tugged on the ring. To his surprise, it opened and remained that way. Did the locks only work on the inside?

"Teal'c?" Daniel's whisper echoed hollowly in the small space.

"I am here," the Jaffa consoled as he quickly entered. He went to the colonel. The unconscious man dangled from his wrists as if he had no life left in him. His brown eyes were glazed with shock.

"H-help Jack," Daniel pleaded. He glanced behind the warrior, his blue eyes rounding with fear. "S-stay away, Sam…"

Coming down from the high and no longer needing to feed so desperately, Sam stared at him in confusion. "I won't hurt you," she promised. Why would he think she would? Hadn't she come as soon as she escaped the Herder to check on them?

He stared at her as if he didn't believe.

"I cannot break these chains." Teal'c's deep voice was heavy with frustration.

"Wait." Sam drifted out of the cell. Seconds later, the manacles released with a metallic clank.

Teal'c barely managed to catch Jack as he fell. Using the momentum, he swung the other man into a fireman's carry. "We must leave now."

"You guys go. I'll catch up," Daniel wheezed. He had no strength left in him to escape. It only mattered if his friends did.

"No." Teal'c held out his hand.

"But you can't," the scientist denied, staring up at the taller man. His bloodshot eyes took in the strain on the dark features, and with a shock, he remembered Teal'c's effort to keep him from harm by constant movement. "You're worn out, and you've got Jack. Go. I promise I'll follow."

The Jaffa's response was merely to keep his hand stretched out.

Knowing it was useless, Daniel sighed. He reached up, allowing the larger man to pull him to his feet. As his knees buckled, Teal'c was there to catch him. Gratefully, Daniel leaned into his friend's strength.

With O'Neill on one shoulder and the scientist listing heavily on his other side, Teal'c wondered for a moment if they would get beyond this place. Doubt hardened his gaze. They had to. No other option existed. Slowly, they limped from the cell.

Moving ahead of them, Sam wished she could help. Yet in her intangible state, she doubted she should touch them though she'd managed the tiny lever which had released the colonel's chains. The desire to assist burned brightly in her, but Daniel's obvious fear tempered it now that the worst of the pain had gone. Why did he fear her?  _ "I know I look ugly, but he's always been one to overlook such things. Except…" _ Remembered pain knotted her heart. He'd refused to visit her during Jolinar's possession. Shaking her head, Sam forgave him once more. Daniel had forfeited so much. It wasn't fair to expect him to look another potential loss square in the face.

Reaching the junction where the corridors branched left and right, Sam said, "We musst go right. The left one leadss to the Herder'ss chamberss."

"W-wait," Daniel protested. As they looked at him, he said, "What about the other prisoners? We've got to free them."

Hearing the tramp of feet coming their way, Teal'c argued, "Our recapture cannot help them, Daniel Jackson." He nodded towards a cell, indicating Daniel should open it.

The scientist complied. They entered the empty cell. Daniel's fingers clutched at the door's edge to keep it from closing all the way.

"Wonder where the other ghosts are," he muttered, after a contingent of six guards marched by.

"I don't know," Sam said. "I didn't ssee any on my way here." Reflecting on her journey from the Herder's chambers, she found she didn't recall much of it.

"We must go," Teal'c ordered after a few moments. He tightened his grip on the scientist and moved.

Sam went before them, ready to alert them to oncoming guards or spirits. She floated up the stone steps, never looking back.

Simply putting each foot in front of the other had Daniel gasping. "S-sorry, Teal'c," he whispered, knowing the Jaffa had to be under the worst strain. Up and up and up. It seemed as if they were climbing out of the bowels of hell. The gray stone walls grew lighter as they rose until they glowed a soft cream. Sweat stung Daniel's eyes and made his black T-shirt cling to his back.

"Jusst a little farther guyss," Sam promised as she pushed open the door. She hesitated, looking at the large square expanse of black stone and the ebony pillars which stretched towards the sky. It looked like a Greek temple for Hades. As a ray from the rising suns touched her hand, she cried out softly as it burned.

"Sam?" Daniel questioned. Suddenly it didn't matter if she'd tried to kill him and Jack. She was their friend, and she was hurt.

"I'm fine." Sam gritted her teeth as she lied. Stepping into the open courtyard beyond the door was akin to bathing in fire.  _ "Not important," _ she thought  _. "Gotta get the guys to safety." _

"H-hurry, Teal'c," Daniel pleaded, seeing Sam's shimmering form up ahead. As he watched, she slowly grew denser as if flesh were absorbing the spirit.

"I am trying Daniel Jackson."

"Sorry," the scientist wheezed, guilty for the strain he was placing on the warrior. By the time they reached the top, Sam looked human again. Sweet, fresh air cooled by the fading night filled Daniel's lungs as he sighed in relief. She seemed more normal, and they were out of the prison. His moment of happiness faded as he studied his friend's faces in the growing light. Teal'c appeared tired beyond reason. Sam's pale features were twisted with pain, and Jack…well Jack looked the worst of all. Slung over the Jaffa's shoulder, the soldier's face was dead white. His brown eyes stared at nothing as if he were already dead, and Teal'c carried an empty shell.

"Gotta get to the gate." Sam's voice held more conviction than strength. She swayed.

Biting his lip, Daniel dredged up the remaining bits of his energy and moved out of Teal'c's grasp to help her. His arm went around her waist.

"Daniel, stop…"

"We'll make it out of here together, Sam," he said quietly, relieved to hear the hiss was missing from her voice.

Seeing the determination in his weary eyes, she nodded.

From nearby, an approaching conversation drifted towards them.

"We must hide," Teal'c said, "and find the best way to the Stargate." He didn't have to remind them they'd been unconscious when they were brought here. Not one of them knew which direction the gate lay.

"That's Phineas," Sam said, recognizing the voice. "He's the Herder's main servant. C'mon. Move."

They hurried as quickly as they could. Dense green foliage lay on the edge of the small plaza. It hid them just seconds before the small group of men came into sight.

"You two go south towards the portal," Phineas ordered, pointing, "and the rest of you look the other way near the mountain. We must find Carter before dusk. I will not disappoint the Herder." They continued walking across the wide plaza.

"Phineas!" called a heavyset man as he lumbered into the area, "Carter's companions have escaped!"

Dismay filled the servant's face. "We must find them before the Herder hears. He will be very angry. Go quickly, all of you. Carter's people must be located before twilight. The brood will come out to swarm, and we will be unable to stop it."

"But, Phineas…"

"Don't you understand?" Phineas said, his voice growing tense with desperation, "Then there will be no more like them. We will take their places."

The men surrounding him scattered as if their souls were in jeopardy.

Hidden in the underbrush, Sam and Daniel glanced at each other. They both looked at the sky glowing pink with new light. The suns had just risen. How many hours remained on this planet before sunset? Did the day last as long as one on earth?

"We'll make it," she assured him, knowing the only other option was to die.

Looking at his friends, Daniel slowly nodded. They had little choice. Yet, seeing how bad each of them looked and knowing he felt as if he couldn't walk more than a few feet, he wondered how they were going to manage the journey.  _ "Only one way to find out," _ he thought. "Your friend said south," he whispered.

As Sam nodded, Teal'c pointed in the direction the Gommorians had indicated and said, "South it is."

***

Without warning, Daniel collapsed beside the thick base of a eucalyptus tree, nearly dragging Sam down with him.

"Daniel," she cried as she knelt beside her fallen friend. He was breathing heavily as if he'd finished a marathon. Staring at the sky through the thick branches overhead, she winced as she noticed the suns were well past their zenith. The team had been evading the search parties for the last three hours, slowly making their way south in a zigzag pattern. They avoided the path which led through the forest, using the dense brush as cover as they paralleled the road. The gate was farther than they expected, and daylight was slipping away more quickly too. To make matters worse, Teal'c still carried the colonel. O'Neill had not awoken from his insensible state, and now Daniel was down.

"M'okay," he said, shaking visibly. His sweaty face was paler than a drowned corpse.

"Sure you are," Sam agreed as she helped him into a sitting position with the tree to support his back. Looking up at Teal'c, she suggested, "Time for a rest?"

Although the Jaffa looked as if he would argue, he nodded. "I concur. We have time for a brief pause to renew our strength."

Nauseous, Daniel swallowed thickly. He needed more than a moment's respite. They all did. Glancing at the sky, he shook his head. "No. We gotta keep going."

Realizing he wouldn't make it, Sam placed a hand on his shoulder, keeping him still. "We will in a minute."

Agitated voices made her crouch down to avoid being spotted.

"Great," Sam said, "company. Stay here with the colonel, Daniel. I'm going to see if I can lead them away from here."

"I will accompany you." Teal'c decided, gently swinging O'Neill down beside Daniel.

"I'll help," Daniel protested as Sam insured Jack's head rested against him.

Sam shook her head. "I don't think all this movement is doing the colonel any good. Someone's gotta stay here to protect him. Maybe you can use the time to check his shoulder wound." Knowing her friend would see through the ruse, Sam steadily held his blue-eyed gaze.

"Okay," Daniel finally agreed, fatigue aging him beyond his years.

"We will return for you Daniel Jackson after we have led them away."

A hint of laughter made tiny creases in the scientist's face. "I believe you, Teal'c. Be careful, okay?"

"We will endeavor to do so." The Jaffa patted him on the shoulder.

With a glance at the sky, Sam urged, "C'mon. We'd better hurry."

"I concur."

Daniel nodded reassurance to his friends as they looked at him. Without further argument, they left him alone with only Jack and his fears for company.

The rough bark of the tree at his sweaty back created an urge to scratch. He hesitated to do it because he didn't want to disturb the man lying against him.  _ "As if that could happen," _ he thought, looking down at the O'Neill's slack features. Daniel would have given anything to hear one of Jack's wisecracks right then. He realized for the first time how much he needed the soldier's reassurance. It seemed as if they could overcome anything if Jack said they could.

Looking at O'Neill's wounded shoulder, Daniel winced as he gently pulled the shirt away to find the flesh discolored, swollen, and warm to the touch. With the bleeding stopped, there was nothing he could do. "Doc'll help you," he whispered, protectively wrapping his arms around his friend. The gesture comforted him.

"Dalton?"

Blinking, Daniel wasn't sure if he'd only imagined the rasped name. "Jack?"

"What happened?"

Relief swamped Daniel. The soldier would be all right. "Sam and Teal'c rescued us," he said quickly.

"Who?"

Fear began to seep back. "Captain Carter and Teal'c." As Jack struggled to sit up, Daniel tried to steady him with a hand on his uninjured shoulder. "Don't you remember?"

"Dalton," O'Neill said as he slowly faced him. His brown eyes glowed fever bright. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

"Uhh," Daniel began, stalling for time as he tried to process this new wrinkle, "Our companions?"

"You know Lucci and Goldstein were hit before those bastards took us out." Jack glanced around, confusion marring his features. "How did we escape?"

"We befriended some of the other prisoners. They helped us," Daniel invented quickly. _ "Why can't he remember? Did the last joining do this to him? Why didn't it happen to me too?" _

Rubbing his throbbing forehead, Jack sighed. He felt like he'd just awakened from a week's drunken binge. "I don't remember. Where are they?"

"They went ahead to scout the terrain. Why don't you lie still? You were out of it for a long time."

"All the more reason for me to get up and moving. I can tell by the tone of your voice we aren't safe yet."

"Well, no." Daniel hedged then winced at the determination which hardened his friend's mouth.

As the soldier tried to stand, his body failed him. He fell against the scientist with a grunt.

"Ow!"

"Sorry, Dalton," Jack wheezed, out of breath but not wanting it to show. "I forgot to ask about you."

"I'm fine." His whole body ached, but Daniel wasn't going to admit it.

"Good. For a moment, I thought..."

"What, Jack? What did you think?"  
O'Neill shuddered at his memories. "Never mind."

"It's important. Please tell me."

At the gentle insistence, uncertain brown eyes held pleading blue for a brief heartbeat. Relenting, Jack muttered, "I thought you were dead."

Hating himself for forcing the issue, but knowing his companion's sanity might lie in knowing, Daniel pushed, "How did I die?"

"For cryin' out loud," Jack hissed. "That's not important. It was a dream. You're here. You're fine."

"Humor me. Like I said, it's important."

"They tortured you to death. Broke all the bones in your body, slowly, one by one. Okay? Does that satisfy you?"

Daniel gulped. "Not quite."

"For cryin'…"

"Why did they do it, Jack?"

"Why are you behaving like this? My dream doesn't matter."

"They hit my head. I need to remember. You've been talking in your sleep. I don't know what's real." Despite his lame explanation, Daniel kept his expression earnest.  _ "Please, please, please let him believe me." _

The irritation instantly left Jack's face. "They tortured you to force me to give them information. You were dying. Even then, I wouldn't break. Some kind of squad leader, huh? Lets his men die so his ego won't admit he's not as tough as he thinks he is."

Understanding slammed into Daniel with fearful clarity. Some time in his past, Jack hadn't broken and had watched a teammate die a horrible death. So this was what he'd remembered when the Gommorians possessed him. "You did what you had to do," he gently consoled, "and a lot more lives were probably saved because you didn't talk."

"But you wouldn't stop screaming," Jack admitted, the horror of it grooved into his face.

With a start, Daniel met terrified brown eyes and warm tears welled in his own. He remembered - he remembered and now the part of him that knew he'd been responsible for pushing his friend over the edge of sanity wouldn't let it rest.

 _If only I hadn't screamed,_ Daniel thought bleakly.

Suddenly, fear twisted Jack's face. "Dalton?" he asked uncertainly. He looked as if he saw a ghost.

Opening his mouth, Daniel tried to acknowledge the name but found he couldn't. Was he doing more harm than good by playing along with the other man's delusion? Clearing his throat, he began, "Jack__"

Howls and exultant shouting erupted from nearby.

Daniel jerked at the sound. It had come from the direction Carter and Teal'c had taken. "Oh, no," he hissed.

Biting his lip, he used the tree to stand. It took him longer than he liked. When he was upright, his legs shook so badly he thought the ground beneath him was trembling. "C'mon, Jack. Sam and Teal'c need us." He held out a hand.

"Who?" Jack grasped the fingers with his good hand and maneuvered himself upright. He swayed.

"Never mind," Daniel said, wrapping an arm around the soldier's waist to steady them both. "We gotta help them."

"If you say so."

Sending a brief prayer skyward, Daniel prayed his friend's memory and strength would come back when they reached their missing teammates. If it didn't, he wasn't sure how effective one geek scientist would be against a mob, but he had to try.

"C'mon," he said, pulling them both towards the proverbial lion's den.

***

"You may leave," Phineas told Teal'c, "but she must remain."

"She will not."

"Go, Teal'c," Sam insisted. "Tell General Hammond what happened."

The Jaffa shook his head. At the edge of a crowd of thirty guards, he refused to believe they could not fight their way through them. There were only five directly between them and the Stargate.

Glancing at the sky, Carter shivered. Less than an hour of daylight remained at best. Crickets were already beginning their evening chorus. Their race against the sun was nearly done.

"General Hammond will not allow you to remain here," Teal'c said. "I am sure he will send another team to extract you." A tiny seed of doubt existing in his mind, the Jaffa wondered if she wanted to transform again.

Sam shook her head. "Negative." Additional SGC personnel meant more people for Cestus to exploit. She didn't intend for that to happen. Turning to Phineas, she said, "The change isn't permanent. I converted back to myself. The Herder is lying to you. It hurt like hell, and I didn't feel any pleasure in the mutation."

A swell of uneasiness swept through the crowd at this new information. Many knew of her change, and not one in the crowd had experienced their own. Holding up his hand for attention, Phineas objected, "But you did not complete the transformation. You only drank twice of your friend's spirits. Had you done so a third time, your transformation would have been unblemished."

His words tearing at her insides, Sam began to tremble as fearful images built in her mind. Had she been responsible for the colonel and Daniel's terrible state? Why didn't she recall?

"Where do those who change go?" Teal'c wondered. His dark eyes steadily held his teammate's, trying to redirect her thinking.

Forcing herself to focus on the present, Sam realized what he intended and added, "There's so many more of you than them. Are you sure they survive the third joining? What if they die?"

As another ripple of disquiet ran through the crowd at this blasphemy, Phineas firmly gripped her arm. "You must be quiet. We do not doubt the Herder's wisdom. He has said they have passed to a realm of pure spirit and pleasure. Why should I distrust him?"

Sam met Teal'c's gaze, imploring him to remain still. "Why **should** you believe? Has he completed the transformation?"

"No," Phineas whispered.

"You are the one closest to him," Sam prodded. "Why do you think he has failed to do what he's urged his people to do?"

"Yes, why, Phineas?" a tall guard nearby suddenly asked.

"I do not know!" The gaunt man's distress was obvious by the way his voice climbed several notches.

"He does not know, he doesn't know," echoed through the crowd.

"It is utter impiety to speak thus. We must trust the Herder," said several others.

At the edge of the clearing, Daniel and Jack arrived in time to hear the confusion. Breathing heavily from supporting much of the other man's weight, Daniel tightened his grip on his friend only to find O'Neill slumping against him, unconscious.

"Jack!" he whispered urgently, trying to ease the soldier's fall to the ground. "Dammit!"

The scientist looked around for help and realized none was forthcoming. He made sure Jack was hidden beneath low-hanging branches before he stood. Squaring his shoulders, he moved toward the crowd.

"Your Herder has given you empty promises and lies," Daniel said, stepping into the open.

"Seize him!" demanded Phineas.

As rough hands assailed him, Daniel winced as they wrenched him forward into the gathering. He was pushed towards Phineas. Nearly stumbling from weariness and pain, Daniel bit his lip, refusing to give in to the darkness hovering on the edges of his vision. They shoved him again, knocking him into Sam. She fell back, one step closer to the edge of the crowd.

"What are you doing?" Sam demanded.

"Trying to help." A spot of color burned his pale cheeks as he thought of how little his assistance had done so far. In a louder voice, he said, "You have not been victims of the brood. They cause pain, terrible pain as they enter their prey."

"You lie," snapped a woman who stood a few feet away.

"Why would I do that?" Daniel insisted. "I have been one of their casualties. If it was so pleasant, why would I try to escape?"

"Don't listen to him." Phineas's narrow face was bright with rage.

"Aren't you only saying that because you don't want to be tortured by the brood? Why don't you volunteer to be one of their sacrifices?" Daniel remained relentless. As he spoke, his blue eyes pleaded with Teal'c to move towards the gate.

Understanding, the Jaffa began to edge away from Carter's side. If he dialed quickly, they might be able to make a run for the wormhole. Yet, where was O'Neill? His eyebrow lifted.

 _Please go,_ Daniel thought. If he could at least get Sam and Teal'c out and distract the crowd, then Jack might have a chance to escape later when the clearing was empty.

Knowing the scientist wouldn't willingly leave the soldier, Teal'c nodded slightly and kept moving. The guards ignored him. Only Sam and Daniel mattered: one for her ability to change, the other for his spirit to help others do so.

"I can hear the fear in your voice," Daniel accused, pointing to Phineas, "and the rest of these people can too."

"I am not afraid," Phineas objected.

Daniel half-smiled. "Then prove it. Return with me to the complex and allow the brood to enter you."

"Daniel, no," Sam gasped.

Phineas paled. "But then I will be unworthy of the change myself."

"What does it matter when you claim both benefit? Are you unwilling to sacrifice for your people?"

"Let us do as he suggests," said the tall guard who held Daniel.

Feeling as if all the eyes of the crowd were upon him, Phineas whimpered, "No. No."

"Traitor!" the taller guard hissed.

Her stomach churning with dread, Sam said, "Phineas doesn't want to die. None of you do." She shot a look at Daniel, willing him to be silent and allow her control. "I have changed and changed back. This state is better. The other hurts beyond imagining."

Capturing his lower lip with his teeth, Daniel wondered if she meant it. She'd been too willing to pass through him and Jack. _And I can imagine the pain now I've experienced the other side of it._

"Besides, I don't know I would have survived the third joining." Sam shook her head.

"The Herder says--" Phineas began.

"Have you ever seen one of the brood after the third joining?" Sam pressed. "I felt the need to go to the Herder and merge with him after the second one. What if he drinks the spirits of those who have changed?"

Dismay and anger rippled through the bodies surrounding her.

The Stargate ka-whooshed, terrifying the crowd.

"The chosen are escaping!" someone shouted.

Maddened by the wild cry, the crowd surged.

"Take me with you!" Phineas screamed, pulling Sam away from menacing hands. He shoved her towards Teal'c who waited near the activated wormhole.

"Run," she urged, doing so with a glance back to see if Daniel was following.

He wasn't. Completely encircled by fists and furious Gommorians, the scientist managed one frantic "Go!" before they fell upon him.

Sam's momentum slowed, she half-turned and bumped into Phineas. He fell backwards into the enraged arms of their pursuers. With a howl of terror, he was caught and pummeled. As a hand gripped her arm, Sam spun and threw a roundhouse punch. It struck Teal'c square in the chest with a solid thump.

"We must help Daniel Jackson," the Jaffa said with a blink, strong-arming one of their assailants aside.

Carter nodded, but before they could reenter the fray, a wild animal-like scream floated over the crowd. The haunting cry broke the spell of bloodlust. With horrified eyes, Sam saw the colonel attacking with utter savageness those who stood between him and Daniel.

O'Neill cracked a head on one side while breaking another man's arm on the other. The solid tree branch he held was spattered with bits of gore which flew as he swung it again and again and again.

The throng of people scattered. Only a few hardy souls continued to fight at the edge of the clearing. One of those remaining was the tall guard who'd held Daniel. He was viciously kicking the huddled scientist with wild abandon.

Jack fell upon him like a beast and broke his neck in the next instant. Tossing the body from him, the soldier dropped beside his fallen comrade.

"Dalton!" he pleaded, his bloody hands cradling the soft hair at the back of Daniel's neck.

Sam and Teal'c's rush to join their teammates halted as O'Neill's head jerked up at their approach. Although tears glistened on his pale cheeks, his eyes were insanely murderous as he glared at them. He gently released his friend. With an inarticulate growl, he rose, clutching the club.

"J-jack, don't!"

The weak cry was enough to give O'Neill pause.

"Friends," Daniel croaked.

Eyes narrowed in suspicion, the soldier pinned the new arrivals with a testing glare.

Sam waited, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. She knew the situation could teeter either way. Never had she expected to meet her death at the colonel's hands.

An agonized groan brought Jack's glance down to the man on the ground. Something in his face softened.

"Okay, Dalton," he sighed, "they're friends. I hope." The last was directed to Sam and Teal'c.

"We've got to go," Sam urged, pointing to the still activated gate. It seemed as if the battle had lasted years instead of moments. She glanced nervously at the darkening sky. The first star was glimmering in the turquoise heavens.

"Captain Carter is correct." Teal'c leaned forward to pick up the fallen scientist.

"No," Jack snapped, blocking him. "Dalton is my responsibility. I'll help him. You two get going."

"Hurry," Daniel pleaded raggedly, making eye contact with Sam. He was all too aware of the lengthening shadows around them and the way they stretched across the grassy clearing as if they could reach out to claim them.

She winced as she saw his bloodied nose, obviously broken arm and the way he pressed his good arm to his side as if he could hold himself together. With another look at the colonel, she realized with a jolt of fear he might attack them if they tried to assist.

"C'mon, Teal'c," Sam decided, "we've gotta go."

"I concur." Not one to waste time arguing, he turned and made his way to the gate. Just as he reached the DHD, the wormhole destabilized.

"Dial it again," Sam called as she paused for a moment beside Phineas's broken body. His people had literally torn him apart. Sadness haunted her eyes. If only he could have listened to reason, he might have been able to rescue his people from their fate. With a shudder, relief filled her that Daniel had escaped the same doom. The gate reactivated with a blast of particles. Sam quickly punched in SG-1's signal code.

"Okay, Dalton," O'Neill gently murmured as he helped his friend to a trembling stance. "Time to bug out."

The scientist bit back a deep cry of pain as his cracked ribs protested. If only he could just lie down and rest for an hour or so. Yet, he knew O'Neill wouldn't leave him, and Jack's only hope of recovery lay on the other side of the gate. If nightfall surrounded them, so would the brood.

Cold sweat broke over Daniel as they stumbled towards the shimmering wormhole. A half-smile tilted the corners of his mouth as first Teal'c went through, then Sam. She gave him a worried glance before disappearing into the silvery liquid.

"Not...much...farther," Jack promised, wondering if they would even make it the next few feet to this strange circle that swallowed their new allies.

He paused just in front of it. Everything inside him screamed a step through meant certain death by drowning.

Sensing the conflict in his exhausted companion, Daniel managed to gasp, "Piece of cake."

"Ya think?"

Looking into confused brown eyes, the scientist simply said, "Trust me?" He shivered as the last bit of sun sank beneath the horizon.

And Jack knew he did. Before he could take the final step to prove it, something slammed into him with the power of an iceberg. The slimy presence filled him with shuddering agony. His mouth opened in a soundless scream at the shock.

"No!" Daniel shouted, dragging them with his unbroken arm the last stride into the wormhole.

The gate effect sent them hurtling through stars. Worlds howled, shrieking past at an unimaginable rate. Stumbling through the other side, Daniel was dimly aware of someone - Sam? - shouting, "Lock it up! Lock it up!" before his knees gave out. He crashed onto the ramp, wincing as the metal jarred his abused body in the shock to his knees. Unconsciousness swooped over him as he fought to stay aware. His eyes locked onto O'Neill's.

Somehow, some way, Jack remained standing, the look of horror on his ragged features expressing the torture tearing at him from inside. He swayed.

 _He's gone forever,_ whispered the tiny voice in Daniel's mind, _and it's all my fault. If he hadn't tried to help me get home, he might've recovered. Now that thing's inside him._

With a terrible cry, the soldier clutched his head and slowly sank beside his downed teammate. Something, an inky blackness hung in the air over both of them before it disintegrated into a thousand jet-black bits.

Hot tears blurring his vision, Daniel saw Jack's eyes close in death. The fingers of his uninjured arm reached out to stop it and grasped only empty air, just short of the other man's sleeve. A sob caught in his throat at the final irony. The soldier should have at least died with the knowledge of a friend's touch or a sense someone remained who would bitterly mourn his loss.

Daniel's body betrayed him as he slumped sideways onto the ice-cold ramp. He gave up the struggle to remain conscious, no longer having any will to fight it. Perhaps death would take him too. It was no more than he deserved. He embraced the shadows that fell upon him.

***

Jack's nose twitched as the antiseptic-laced air burned with the sharp tinge of alcohol. His tongue felt thick and coated as if someone had left dirty socks in his mouth. A heavy layer of gauze enclosed his brain. How had they managed to stuff his head full of the fuzzy stuff?

As the oblivion drained away, he sensed a comforting presence beside him _Daniel._

Before he could say the name, a gentle hand squeezed his forearm. "Take it easy, sir. Let me get the Doc."

_Sam?_

Jack opened his mouth to call her back, but a weak groan was all that made it past his lips. It was enough, he discovered, as he cracked open his eyes. Carter's concerned face began as a blur, sharpened to painful clarity, then eased off to a softer distinctness.

Although she tried to mask it, Sam knew the fear shone in her eyes when some of her distress was mirrored in his brown ones.

"Carter?" O'Neill rasped.

Relief flooded her. He knew who she was!

"Everything will be better now," Sam promised. "You need to rest. Let me call Doctor Fraiser."

Although it took tremendous will, Jack slowly moved his head to look at the infirmary. His body ached like he'd been squashed against the iris.

"Daniel? Teal'c?" he asked, looking at her again.

"Teal'c's fine, Colonel," she assured. As his gaze held hers, she wondered if she could say the lie he needed to hear.

"Daniel..." Jack could barely produce the name. His mouth felt so dry.

Recognizing his affliction and glad for something to do, she reached for an ice chip and ran it over his cracked lips.

He sighed as the wonderful moisture banished some of the cotton wrapping his tongue.

Knowing she couldn't put it off any longer, Sam gathered her courage. She had so much to say. "Daniel's in another room, sir. Doc Fraiser felt it best."

"Why?"

"He-he wasn't getting better in here." She met his gaze. "I'm sorry for what I did to you, and him."

Confusion wrinkled his forehead. "What?"

"When I became one of the brood. I almost killed you and Daniel."

 _And I might still have succeeded with him,_ Sam's thoughts added as they provided a mental image of the scientist, lying withdrawn and still as death in a nearby room.

"You couldn't help it," Jack forgave, "so don't pack your bags for a guilt trip. That's Daniel's way."

She flinched at the name.

"Is he dead, Captain?"

Shock widened her eyes. "Oh, no, sir," Sam quickly reassured him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to think that."

"Then what? Cut to it."

"That's my job," Janet Fraiser said before Sam could talk. "How are you, Colonel? Any pain you want to tell me about?" Her gentle but thorough fingers probed his neck, feeling his glands.

Jack suffered her touch. "Fine." He summoned a grin. "Now, can I get out of here?"

"What's the matter? Don't like my hospitality?" Fraiser's tone was gently chiding as she continued to examine him.

"No. Yes. Well, you know."

She smiled, the gesture reaching her eyes as she found him doing much better than she expected. "Maybe I do." As he started to move the blanket aside in preparation for standing, her hand halted him. "That wasn't an invitation for you to go. I still have tests to run. You were out of it for the last four days. We almost lost you several times. Your electrolytes were out of balance, your heart couldn't keep a normal sinus rhythm, and you didn't know anyone. And I've just gotten the infection from the knife wound in your shoulder under control."

"Well, I feel fine," he protested, even though the room swam as he sat up straighter and his knifed shoulder felt stiff, "so seeing as I've enjoyed your hospitality for most of the week, can't I recuperate in my quarters? I promise to check in with you whenever you need me to."

"That should work for tomorrow if you continue to do well. Right now I want you here so I can monitor your vitals."

"But, Doc--"

"What's so important that it can't wait until tomorrow?"

"Daniel."

At the name, Fraiser's expression fell.

"Is he that bad?"

She glanced at Carter before meeting his steady gaze. "He's not responding as well as I'd hoped."

"Meaning?"

"He's about like you were on the first day, Colonel," Sam replied.

"For cryin' out loud." Jack ran the hand that didn't contain the IV through his short hair. He didn't want to believe it. Daniel had suffered as much as he did in their cell, but the scientist hadn't looked that worn out the last time he'd seen him.

 _And when exactly was that, Jack?_ asked his mind. _Just before Carter entered you?_

A surge of panic filled him at the thought of missing time. "How long was I out of it on the mission, Captain?"

Sam averted her gaze. "Most of the last day, sir."

"What happened to Daniel then?"

"He got mixed up with a rioting crowd." Sam swallowed hard, remembering. She still had her apologies to make to Daniel, but he'd verbally kicked her out of his room when she'd tried to see him.

A shudder ran through her as the last time she'd visited him came to mind. She didn't want to remember him curled into a fetal ball, his eyes dark and unseeing as if he were waiting for death to take him. The utter hopelessness written on his gentle face tore at her soul. Nothing she'd said seemed to reach him.

O'Neill read her expressions, each one more telling than the last. "Doc, can't I leave this bed for a short time?"

"What's the matter?" she teased gently, "you got a hot date?"

Jack's brown eyes were haunted by urgency. "I gotta talk to Daniel."

Fraiser steadily held his gaze as she weighed one patient's need with another's. Maybe the colonel could reach Daniel. They had nothing to lose in trying if O'Neill didn't push himself too much. Daniel was slipping away before their eyes. Another day or so would probably be too late.

"Okay," she sighed, "but you go in a wheelchair, keep the IV hooked and let me drive."

"Agreed," Jack nodded.

"Why do I let myself be suckered into these schemes?" she griped good-naturedly.

"Because they're such good ones," he grinned.

"Good luck, sir," Sam said.

"He'll be okay," Jack assured her with quiet firmness. At her relieved nod, he added, "I'm not gonna be the only one stuck eating hospital food."

A tiny smile lit Sam's eyes as she shook her head. She knew if anyone could pull Daniel out of this, the colonel could.

_Then I'm gonna make him listen to my apology whether he wants to or not._

She knew in her heart he would, and he probably felt she didn't need to.

As Fraiser went to get a wheelchair, Jack said in a low voice, "Captain, can you do me a huge favor?"

"Sure."

"Bring me a chili dog later with everything on it."

"Deal," Sam smiled.

"And Sam, don't let Teal'c get it for you."

"Why not?"

"The last time he brought me one, it had pineapple on it." Jack gave a mock shudder.

"No pineapple," she agreed, knowing his aversion to having the fruit on pizza. "Guess I'd better go wake Teal'c and let him know you're okay. He was here most of the night."

Jack nodded. As she left him alone, he glanced at the empty bed next to his. _So Daniel couldn't get better in here, huh? Maybe you said or did something to make him sick at the sight of you._

O'Neill shook his head at the mental voice. His geeky friend didn't know how to hold a grudge - except for the Goa'ulds. With a sigh, Jack girded his spirit. He was a trained warrior, and the battle to bring his friend back from the shadow of death was one he didn't intend to lose.

***

"Way too dark," Jack muttered as Fraiser left him in the doorway of Daniel's room. He could barely make out the huddled form of the scientist in the hospital bed.

Fingers of shade were created by the illuminated corridor as the glow spilled into the murk of the room. The monitors hooked up to his friend were the only bright lights in the place. They glowed green, red and orange.

Watching the scrawl of electric lines which measured the slowing beats of Daniel's heart, Jack frowned and rolled himself further into the space. The effort left a sheen of sweat on his face. Perhaps he wasn't as recovered as he believed. A nap didn't sound like a bad idea.

_Time for that when Daniel's...better? Alive?_

"Daniel?" Jack said softly as he neared the bed.

No response.

"Hey, you awake?" O'Neill asked, although he'd glimpsed the dull blue eyes. A flood of deja vu swept over him. Carter had looked the same when Jolinar died.

 _But no one's dead this time,_ Jack thought. _Yet._

He reached out, gently touching the pale arm that lay limply on the bed. The other was confined in a sling. How had the kid broken his arm?

"C'mon, Danny," Jack said under his breath. "Don't do this."

Blue eyes blinked.

Hope welled in Jack's heart. "Daniel?"

"J-jack?"

The rusty whisper was so faint O'Neill wondered if he'd imagined it, but Daniel's bleak gaze settled on him.

"Dead?"

"Oh, for cryin' out loud." The corners of Jack's lips turned up in a ghost of a grin. "Not yet. Disappointed?"

The shock of the disclosure hit Daniel full force. The beeping heart monitor sped up, skipped a beat, then continued on.

"Whoa there," Jack soothed with a gentle pat.

"How?"

"I'm not real clear on that, but you sound kinda disgruntled."

Daniel's lower lip quivered and his brightened gaze dulled. "S-sorry."

His stomach knotting, Jack realized his friend had misconstrued the teasing. "I thought I told you to stop saying that."

"Should've let me die," Daniel whispered, "instead of killing them."

Confusion drew lines around the soldier's eyes. _Who?_ Before he could ask the question, a flood of violent memories assaulted him. He remembered the rough bark of a tree branch in his hand and the stickiness of blood. More innocents dead because of him.

With a mental shake of his head, Jack discounted the thought. Those guards were responsible for a lot of misery, and they'd been attacking his teammate.

His hand left Daniel's arm. Jack reached out and gently ruffled his companion's soft blond hair. "I've lost enough friends in my life, so can you just pull yourself together and fight to get well?"

Comforted by the touch, Daniel studied the soldier's pale face. Jack still looked like hell, but he was much better than the last time he'd seen him.

 _He wouldn't be hurt at all if you'd managed to protect him,_ said the vicious mental critic in his mind.

Seeing tears well in the wounded blue eyes made Jack's own sting. "I had to watch a good friend die once, Daniel, when we were imprisoned together. I'm not about to let you check out on me now that we've escaped that hellhole. A man can only watch so many friends die before he dies himself. Each loss takes a piece out of you."

Knowing how much the admission cost the older man, Daniel slowly nodded. When he'd thought Jack had died on the ramp beside him, he'd felt the rest of his weary soul let go.

_If you don't fight this, how's he gonna look when you're dead?_

This time the prodding mental speaker gave him strength instead of sapping it. Daniel reached out his good hand. It shook as he lightly poked Jack's arm.

"What was that for?" Jack asked, a smile lighting the depths of his brown eyes.

"Just testing."

"For?"

"To see if you were real."

Something in the haunted voice made Jack ache to take the shadows from the scientist's gentle eyes. "I'm real, Daniel," he quietly assured.

"Good."

"You'd better stay that way too."

Daniel opened his mouth to ask why, but before he could speak, the other man held up a hand.

"You pester me enough now. Couldn't take your spook hanging around. I'd never get any peace."

"I'm not going to die. At least not for awhile."

O'Neill's determined gaze met and held the other man's. "I'll take that as a promise. I know you're a hard man to kill, but I don't want to see someone succeed in making you a liar."

"The same goes for me, Jack," the younger man admitted quietly.

Jack nodded. Their experiences had made them closer than most brothers. He'd give his life for this man and knew it was reciprocal. A yawn made his jaw crack.

"Should you be up?"

"Probably not," Jack admitted. He nodded at the empty bed next to Daniel. "Is that one taken?"

"Don't think so. Help yourself." Relief washed over Daniel. Neither of them would be alone. After this last mission, nightmares were sure to follow. As his friend maneuvered himself onto the empty bed, Daniel questioned, "What do you think is going to happen to the Gommorians?"

Out of breath from his exertion, O'Neill huffed, "Don't know. Why?"

"It's not a very nice way to live." The memory of pain lingered in the soft voice.

"They might figure it out some day. Besides, maybe some of the races we've met think the same about us."

Daniel nodded. Weary to the depths of his soul, all he wanted to do was sleep. As his eyes sought out his friend in the dimness, a frown line grew between his eyebrows. Uneasiness filled him.

"Jack?"

"What?" Tempered by exhaustion, some irritation remained in O'Neill's voice.

"Would you mind if I turned on the light over my bed?"

Pulled away from sleep by the question, Jack wondered, "Why?"

"Just don't like the darkness for some reason."

Understanding filled the soldier's expression. He knew. "Sure. Go ahead."

Daniel reached up, clicking on the lamp above with his good hand. Soft, gentle radiance banished the shadows to the corners.

"G'night, Jack."

"Same to you, Daniel."

Safe in the warm halo of light, the two men drifted into healing sleep.

THE END


End file.
